Friends, like handicrafts, came easily to Mary Phelan and she was devoted to both throughout her life. But family always came first. She will be remembered by her family and her many friends for the kindness of her heart and the tenderness of her laugh.
Born in Chicago Heights, Ill., in 1916, Mrs. Phelan began playing the piano at age 14 and soon was accompanying the organist at the local Lincoln Dixie Theatre. During her life she was called on to be an accompanist for many programs.
Her family were members of the Christian Church in Chicago Heights and she was a lifelong Christian. Mrs. Phelan found a home in North Carolina at the Shallowford Presbyterian Church in Lewisville. She was intrigued by and respected all faiths and loved a thought-provoking book or discussion about religion, regardless of denomination. She was briefly a second-grade teacher, but throughout her life friends and family spoke of all that they have learned from her.
Her love of beautiful music--played by her or others--really was just one expression of her deep devotion to craftsmanship in all its forms. This was evident in her admiration for a witty and well-constructed sentence and her abhorrence of sloppy grammar, just as she winced at inelegant piano music.
She believed that living was a craft that required dedication and principles, and she was guided by a strong personal sense of propriety that was balanced by an open heart that accepted others as they are.
Her fondness for craftsmanship led her to pursue a broad and varied list of hobbies, beginning quite early in her life. An aunt taught her to crochet at age 4. This began her path to needlepoint, knitting, quilling, rug hooking, gold-leafing trays and card making, something that, with the help of a good friend, she continued until her death. Many will attest that she played a wily game of Hand and Foot and had a sly approach to Rummikub.
One of her favorite hobbies was creating beautiful pictures made from hundreds of small pieces of postage stamps, individually cut and assembled. Although each picture required many, many hours of close work to create, Mrs. Phelan gave away many of the works to family and friends. Her stamp pictures were featured in an article in the Winston-Salem Journal.
Mrs. Phelan was a member of PEO and valued the intelligence and kindness of the women she met through that organization. Once she became unable to attend meetings, she treasured visits from her sisters.
Wherever Mrs. Phelan lived, she celebrated quality and beauty in design through color and composition. Family and friends throughout her life sought her advice on interior decorating and she delighted in helping others make their homes more colorful and lovely.
In addition to the love she shared with her family, the constant of Mrs. Phelan’s life was her tireless, selfless desire to bring music, beauty and happiness to the lives of others. So it is that the world she leaves behind holds the echoes of loving music and the lasting joys of beauty because of the life she led.
Leaving this life, she was united with the husband she loved, Jim, who died in 1974, and with a cherished son, Bob. Her family includes sons Jim, Tom and Dennis, and her daughter Mary Ellen, as well as eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, all of whom feel blessed to have been able to know and be loved by Mary Smith Phelan.
A memorial service will be held in November.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18